Whats Wrong w/ Wanting to Earn A Good Living?

I am a finance major in college ( senior ) when i get out i hope to go to grad school in a few years , earn my CFA , and be a wall street analyst. I hang out w/ hippies and counterculture types which are kind of cool but when i talk about my career aspirations right now they get put off and tell me how greedy i am blah blah. Well guys that paycheck puts money on the table and if yall want to live like slackers all your lives thats ok. BTW i’ve had salesman exp and b/c of my gradesi could reasonably expect a decent job after college and have gotten accepted to a nice private school in dallas vs my friends that are like 26 and still havent gotten their 4-year degree. Moral of the story - dont be a slacka$$ and then complain to others about their lack of morals concerning things end of rant

It’s fairly astonishing to see people who act like that. I cannot imagine having friends who would immediately put you down as “greedy” fpr having… GASP!.. ambition! And Wall Street? That den of evil and sin? Perish the thought!

Stick to your guns, man. Sounds like you have your head screwed on straight, so ignore the poisonous people who are allegedly your “friends”. It always amazing to see that the ones who get on you for being “greedy” tend to be the same ones who are simply jealous because they have zero drive to do more with their lives… so it’s easier to tear down those who do.

Kuz

  • Return with honor.

interesting topic. I am currently a sophmore and i’ve been really struggling with a choice of major. Currently I am a finance major like you, but I am really having doubts about it. The more I look at the world of finance…the less I seem to be interested in it. I know everyone says to do what you love and not worry about the money…but i really worry about the money end of it. There doesn’t seem to be any money in banking until you’ve put in some serious time(like 20 years) and start your own bank or get promoted. And to be a CFO of a company you need to get your MBA…

It seems like it would be so much simpler to go to med or law school. Even though it seems like more time in school…is it really? By the time you put in 4-5 years for your undergaduate degree then go for your masters you’re not far away from the time it takes to go through law school.

My initial aspirations were to be an engineer, but i’m not sure what kind of possibilities there are with being an engineer.

Damn…this stuff just gives me a headache thinking about it. It sucks realizing that you don’t have forever left to decide what you want to do…

Opps. Double posted. What a way to start off…

Correct me if I’m wrong, but I haven’t seen any hospital wings created or schools improved using donated money from “counterculture hippies”.

I say you should look up how much money Bill Gates and other “greedy” people donate to charity and show these facts to those hippies.

Then ask them what they’ve donated lately.

don’t you know people who want to make money are going to HELL!!!

Sorry, I got possessed there for a second. I suggest you drop those worthless pieces of trash you call friends. These kinds of people are all over. It’s unbelievable how many people go after T-Nation for selling supplements and trying to make money. There is really no advertising on here. The fact that we get people asking what Grow! is and where to buy it seems to prove that. I’ll refrain from going on about these leeches before I make myself sick.

I say productive work is the main focus in life and pride in what you do is imperative. Go after your interests and desires - it’s your life.

These “hippies” are just giving excuses for either being lazy, or an excuse as to why they cannot achieve. It is either ignorance or jealousy that prompts these statements.

Just ask them what is wrong with getting or having money. Also do these people work? If so they are hypocrites. If they disagree with money, they should not do anything to get or have any.

Money is a powerful tool, and can be used to help others. I keep running into people who think that the only way to make money is to steal it or hurt others, but this is just stereotyping people in a way that is no different then stereotyping race. In fact it is harder to achieve if you lie cheat and steal. True success comes from helping others.

Yes there are exceptions, but they are fewer then people think. But they are always the ones who make the news.

This is probably not what you want to hear, but get new friends. Surround yourself with like-minded people: ambitious, goal oriented, ass kickers like yourself.

Bastard

A lot of people in the world are either intimdated of people with ambition, or simply don’t like them because they themselves have no ambition. It’s a sad fact, but one I see very often.

Stay strong
MR

[quote]thabigdon24 wrote:
I am a finance major in college ( senior ) when i get out i hope to go to grad school in a few years , earn my CFA , and be a wall street analyst. I hang out w/ hippies and counterculture types which are kind of cool but when i talk about my career aspirations right now they get put off and tell me how greedy i am blah blah. Well guys that paycheck puts money on the table and if yall want to live like slackers all your lives thats ok. BTW i’ve had salesman exp and b/c of my gradesi could reasonably expect a decent job after college and have gotten accepted to a nice private school in dallas vs my friends that are like 26 and still havent gotten their 4-year degree. Moral of the story - dont be a slacka$$ and then complain to others about their lack of morals concerning things end of rant
[/quote]

Go son!!!

Your hippie friends sound more like toxic people to me. Sure, money isn’t everything but it beats the piss out of not having it and smelling like hemp.

I’m just finishing up a masters degree in finance and am going to do the CFA after that. If that is what you want to do, don’t let anybody hold you back, but don’t lose sight of what is important, either.

Good luck.

Nothing is wrong with it. There’s something wrong with your friends.

Don’t let others dictate your life. Go after your hearts desire and if it brings you tons of money all the damn better!

Thanks y’all i have never felt more sure of myself after reading the responses.
Good damn day to be a T-man.

How many people want money? How many want your friends? Do they have people kicking down their door to hang out with them? Consider that and draw your own conclusion.

I’m chiming in too with my two (euro) cents.

Go for the money.

  1. Money is like air - only important if you’re not getting enough.

  2. If you REALLY hate the money, it’s easy to stop earning it. Not so easy the other way around.

  3. If what drives you is the “hippie counter-culture Save The Whales” mentality, get a part-time job to support yourself and devote your time to charity. They way I see it, working for a charity full-time means you’re leeching their funds to pay you - not exactly what you’re aiming at when you want to help the world.

  4. Money rocks.

I also second what Mike Roberston said above - people hate other people getting ahead.

I agree, you need new friends. Try hanging out with folks who are like minded. It’s fun hanging with a group of people who help and encourage each other to do things. Imagine getting a great job offer and knowing that a good friend will be starting at the same company the same week you are. You put in your apprentice years, then start your own business. With one of these counter-culture folks?

Nothing at all wrong with wanting to earn a good living, though I do think you’d be setting yourself up for unhappiness and frustration if you went into a field you weren’t otherwise interested in to chase a paycheck. If you find finance inherently interesting, you’re on the right track. If you find it boring but lucrative, start looking for ways to make money doing something you actually enjoy. People with talent and drive can make money in pretty much any field; people without them will always be calling others sellouts.

Gee … can anyone remember the last time a “counterculture hippie” gave them a job? Trust me, you are fine. Work hard and you will do well.

Bozos like your “friends” don’t seem to realize that SOMEONE has to be productive in order to finance their socialist utopia (and it probably isn’t going to be them…).

Even the counterculture is market driven as well as full of people who succeed. Do you think Richard Metzger from Disinformation Publishing just sat around on his ass smoking weed and complaining about money? Of course not! He worked his ass off (and ate mushrooms) and got a bunch of money to fund the things that he cares about!

As a card-carrying, death-metal-listening, mushroom-eating, long-haired representative of “the counterculture,” I feel it is my responsibility here to remind your buddies that being lazy, out of shape, and a total failure is a cop-out: Go ahead and embrace peasant morality and spend your life as a peasant! We’re all so impressed by how much more “aware” you are! You’re sure to bring down “the system” by refusing to make something of your life!

I’m going to go out on a limb here and guess that your friends are white, middle-class, college kids whose parents do well enough to send their kids off to college to play activist, right? The silliness of such persons (as you may have guessed, I have more than a little bit of experience with these types myself) never fails to astound me.

Make your money, let them fail, and then see who has the power to actually change the world.

Wall Street is a great career. I had a very rewarding and lucrative career on the street. The money is unreal compared to just about anything else you can do. I “retired” at 40 after a buyout and bought my own company. It’s hard to find that kind of freedom anywhere else.

An MBA is almost mandatory. If you land a job as an analyst you will be required to get one. A CFA will make more sense to you after a few years. Not sure where you attend school but the pipeline to the street comes thru the Ivy’s and NYU. Not to say it’s not possible but you will be unusual if you are not an ivy league grad at one of the major’s. If you can get that MBA right away at the best school you can get into. If not your undergrad grades are going to have to be beyond question.

Your hippie friends likely do not have the mettle for this life. A junior associate is going to be expected to put in 60 hr. weeks, at a minimum. It only goes up from there. Burnout is common and expected.

It’s also a war of attrition. 20 junior associates will come in. Maybe 4 or 5 will advance. After that you need to decide where you want to go. Analyst, Banker, Inst. Sales etc.

Like I said it’s a great life. Great people. If you can do something you love and make a lot of money doing it. Consider yourself fortunate and lucky.

As an aside. If you got some cash, a good job and are young and single in NYC you will have a lot of fun. It will become very apparent why they call it the greatest city in the world.